Thursday, September 22, 2016

I've been a little MIA lately because we've taken in TWO kittens whose feral mom basically brought to our back door and adopted out to us. There's a cute back story there, but the issue for us immediately is that we already have two cats, and feeding and caring for two more is stretching things. There's NO space in any rescue in town for these guys, so we are caring for them but the only appropriate isolated space we have is in my son's room...which is unfortunately the smallest room in the house! Before I go any further, here's a picture of the darlings (complete with their Stampin' Up! box for a bed in the background, lol), I think they're maybe around 12 weeks old now:

Wilbur in front, Merlin peeking over from behind.

If you are interested and able, here are a couple of ways you can help us:

Place an order in my Online Store through September 30th, and use Host Code GFNHJ3HN and 25% of your merchandise total will go towards our kitten care. The goal thru September 30th is $600 in merchandise, which will give us $150 for kitten care. (the Stampin' Rewards on that Host Code will then be used to purchase supplies to make kitty cards my kids and I can sell for further kitten care)

If you use, or can set up, the Square Cash app on your phone, I can accept your direct donation at $procrastistamper with no fees (for you or for me) and you might get us BOTH $10 when you send $50, if you are new to the app and give me your info so I can send you an Invitation!

If you are more comfortable with sending gift certificates, the pet store nearest to me is PetSmart. I'm pretty sure you can send electronic gift certificates to an email address. You can find mine below my "signature" on this post.

It's difficult to get pictures of black cats, but if you look closely, you might be able to see that each of their left ears are "tipped" (cut straight across). This is an indication that they are feral cats who have been trapped, neutered, and released back where they were found. The thing is, these kittens are so NOT feral in character. They were crying at our back door to come in and live with us after we played with them in our backyard one afternoon. That, plus the fact that their mom had another litter of two very young ones with her to care for, is why we took them in. We have cougars, foxes, raccoons, and bears in our neighborhood, as we are basically at the foot of a national forest, so we couldn't leave them outside our door crying.

We're going to keep Merlin, because our two other cats seem less threatened by him, but we need to get Wilbur adopted out. We've talked to a rescue about the possibility of us taking care of Wilbur at our home and taking him to their adoption events on the weekend, but we haven't heard back from them about the details. If they do let us do that, they will cover vet visits for Wilbur, but not likely for Merlin (since we're keeping him), so there's another expense we're looking to cover. Any beds/toys/supplies we get for Wilbur can go with him to his new home if the adoptive parents want them, but we're also looking to get some kitty walls/gates that we can use to expand the kittens' isolated living area through our hallway. And, we give our kitties a raw food feline diet, so feeding two ravenous, growing, furballs is getting crazy--they actually eat TWICE as much as our two existing cats right now!

Any way you can help is greatly appreciated, and I'll be sure to send you a kitty card thank you in return, if you'll give me your snail mail address >^..^<

Don't forget to use a HOST CODE!September Monthly Perks Code: XYFPZ3VJSeptember Stamp Club Code: RKJ2ETQ4(if your order total equals or exceeds $150, please do NOT use the Monthly Perks Host Code...you will have earned Stampin' Rewards of your own!)

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

You'll want to go check out the Clearance Rack right away, there are LOADS of great deals on holiday crafting supplies...plus a few special stamp sets which have not been featured in any catalog. They were released monthly as Stampin' Up! was doing Monthly Release Photopolmer Stamps. In a tiny bout of synchronicity, I just created a new project sample with one of those sets, Lovely Amazing You, which is now at 60% OFF while supplies last! (sorry, the pics are a bit rough, I just snapped them quickly with my phone last night and then saw this morning that the set is on sale!)

Those are just the prototype samples I made for my new project, I'll have a tutorial available for you shortly. But you'll want to grab the Lovely Amazing You stamp set before it's gone if you like this "anytime" theme. In my tutorial I'll show you samples for more occasions and holidays--it quite efficiently uses 6"x6" or 12"x12" DSP so there are millions of possibilities! The inside of the little box will hold 3 chocolate nuggets, or one fun/snack size candy bar. Let me show you the entire Lovely Amazing You stamp set, and a few more darling projects, to show you how badly you need this set...by the way, that envelope image from the set would look so cool stamped behind the #imbringingbirthdaysback stamp, don't you think?

And while you're over there on the Clearance Rack, check out the discount DSPs you could use to make my new little project. And how cute would it be for Halloween to stamp the "Bite Me" saying from the Bite Me photopolymer stamp set on a tag for this chocolate box, and then punch a corner of the tag out with the with 7/8" Scallop Circle Punch to look like a chomp mark?? Or, you could make some stocking stuffers using the Christmas Tagables photopolymer stamp set on the tag. But seriously, get over to the Clearance RackNOW, your chance to grab your discount handmade holiday supplies is disappearing fast.

Don't forget to use a HOST CODE!September Monthly Perks Code: XYFPZ3VJSeptember Stamp Club Code: RKJ2ETQ4(if your order total equals or exceeds $150, please do NOT use the Monthly Perks Host Code...you will have earned Stampin' Rewards of your own!)

Friday, September 2, 2016

This is a BRAND NEW blog hop, and you'll get to meet some stampers from all over the world in it! My name is Kimberley and I am in the United States, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. You might notice that the blog post refers to a "seasonal" catalog...here in North America, our seasonal catalog is called the Holiday Catalog. I believe in the UK, their catalog is called the Autumn-Winter Catalogue. The theme of this blog hop is a "with a twist", which I took to mean using something from the Holiday Catalog in a way other than it might have been intended to be used. For my project, I am featuring the Totally Trees stamp set, which looks like this:

Cool set, huh? There are solid images that you can stamp in color, and then stamp the branches or leaf detail over the top in a dark color, and it looks like a tree with a bit of depth. This is an AMAZING set because you can really use it any time of year. Just grab yourself a versatile saying set to use with it, and you're good to go. Of course, being in the Holiday Catalog, it was intended to be used for Fall/Winter looks. But, I came up with something summery, and it's not just the palm tree. Well, the palm tree helped. Take a look and then I'll explain a little:

So, you can probably pick out a couple of the images I used, but these waffle cones might have you stumped. I'll give you a closer look.

To make the waffle cone texture, I first inked up the "cone" shape in Sahara Sand, then I inked up ONLY the trunk of the palm tree in Crumb Cake and stamped criss-cross lines all over the inked up stamp. Then I refreshed all the ink with a little exhale on the stamp, and stamped it down. Actually, the two outside cones are Sahara Sand/Crumb Cake, and the middle cone is Crumb Cake/Soft Suede. There was a tiny squiggly dot in the stamp set that I used as a chocolate chip on the Mint Macaron scoop, and a tiny oval I inked up and cut out to be like a cherry on top of the chocolate scoop. I covered the cherry with the Fine Tip Glue Pen so it would be all shiny and round. Those clear sequins on the Flirty Flamingo scoop come from the Metallic Sequin Assortment.

The saying at the bottom comes from the You're So Sweet stamp set, I markered in only the words I wanted on the image. The Soft Suede card stock underneath was run through the Big Shot with the Sparkle Embossing Folder--twice. I shifted the design a bit after the first time to fill in the spaces a little more. I thought it sort of coordinated with the criss-cross look of the cones. The green dots are White Perfect Accents that I colored with a mint colored Sharpie.

That wraps it up for me, click the Next or Previous arrow below to find more twists around the world!

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Welcome to the September 2016 Edition of the We Create Bloggers Step It Up Blog Hop! The usual theme is to inspire stampers with a basic design, and at least one alternate "stepped up" version of that same design. This month I'll be creating a basic design in an every day theme, and a stepped up version in a holiday theme! One of the gals said it's more like "stepped over" than "stepped up", so that's what I'm calling it this month. Check out my basic design below:

My stepped up version features a lot of new product from the 2016 Holiday Catalog, and the layout was based on a sketch Stampin' Up! shared in a weekly training email. If you Become a Demonstrator, you can get inspiration like this directly in your email inbox, too!

DETAILS: Promotion period runs from September 1st through September 21st, deadline for finalized orders at 11:50pm MT on 9/21/2016. Each seven days there will be new deals...bookmark this post to come back as links go live. Product selection will be updated weekly at midnight (MT) on each Thursday of the Special Offers promotion.

Be sure to check out the NEW2016 Holiday Catalog and see what discounted goodies you can stock up on during the Special Offers to coordinate with your new stamps and stamping projects! Don't forget to grab a few extra items on the cheap as stocking stuffers for your crafty friends!!!

NOTE: Holiday Catalog debuts on September 1st, 2016 at 12am MT. My Online Store will be down from midnight to 2am MT while the new items are loaded and some maintenance is performed. In the meantime, you can download the PDF of the 2016 Holiday Catalog for browsing.

As you look through the 2016 Holiday Catalog, notice that there are Exclusive Host-Only stamp sets on page 3 that you can only get with Stampin' Rewards through the end of the catalog period on January 3, 2017. Also keep your eyes peeled for the MANY, MANY BUNDLES you can purchase at 10% OFF the individually purchased price. Oh, and to remind you how lovely the 2017-17 Annual Catalog is, check out the Special Offers from September 1st through 21st...a new group of items will go on sale at 25% OFF every week of the sale!!!

Do you want everything from the 2016 Holiday Catalog?? I do! A great way to get it a little at a time is to join my Monthly Stamp Club. Or, contact me to find out how you can Host your own Party--you can even have it at my house here in Colorado Springs. In fact, I prefer you have it at my house, and I'll give you a FREE ink pad just for the convenience (with minimum Party Sales of at least $150).

Maybe you don't live nearby...that's okay! I'll be posting a Workshop video every month, and you can pass around a link to that, along with a Host Code I'll generate that is unique to you, and you can gather sales through my Online Store all month long to increase your Party Sales total, which will in turn increase your Stampin' Rewards (that's FREE product of your choice)! It doesn't matter if your "guests" who place orders live near you or not, their own order will be shipped directly to them, and will still count towards YOUR Host Benefits/Stampin' Rewards.

If you can't afford everything you want right now at retail pricing, why not just Become a Demonstrator and get at least 20% OFF catalog merchandise?? You could become the Christmas Card Making Queen of your group of friends this year, or be the Stocking Stuffer Superhero and make a little business out of it! Spend your extra cash on even more stamps, or do that thing you've been meaning to do for yourself if you had just a little more money coming in each month.

However you slice it, enjoy the eye candy of this sweet new catalog ;-)

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